Pray in This Way (Part Eight)

“In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.”
(Matthew 6:9–13)

Let’s face it: the world is filled with “evils,” and an awful lot of it directly affects us, as individuals, as families, and as the church corporate. We need God’s help in facing them—help in resisting their evil influence, help in avoiding a sinful response on our part, help in bearing up under it all, and just plain HELP! getting out of trouble.

Some trouble we may not think of as “evil” per se, such as chronic sickness, economic downturns, natural disasters, or even smaller problems such as a struggling grade in math class. Yet God intends for us to bring these things to Him for help and deliverance as much as anything else. He wants us to trust Him to save us, and the way we trust Him is through prayer and patience and obedience even in the midst of our trials. It is quite true that God often “delivers” us by taking us through the trial (the lengthy illness or the difficult marriage) rather than whisking us away out of all inconvenience. But we should pray and believe that God will deliver us in whatever way He thinks wisest for our ultimate good.

Other things more clearly earn the name of “evil”: the unbelieving spirit of the age, personal enemies or enemies to the church, and even Satan himself. Jesus came to save us from these things as much as He did from our own sins. The Psalms are full of examples of prayers in which the psalmist is crying out to God to deliver him from his enemies. The Bible is clear: God is on our side, and if we have God on our side, who can be against us? If God is my helper, what can man do to me? God can deliver us from the greatest evils, and the very devil himself will flee from us if we resist him and cry out to God for His deliverance. And if the devil, then obviously God can save us from any “lesser” evil.

When you find yourself in danger or trouble of any kind, cry out to God and He will save you. And since we face “evils” every day, this should be part of our daily prayer.

“Great and wonderful God, our Deliverer, our Fortress, we pray that You would deliver us from all evil. Deliver us from our enemies: our own sins, the world, the flesh, the devil. Save us out of our distresses. Convert those who are enemies to Christ and His Church. Save us from the corruption that creeps into our homes and souls, from the evil running rampant through our culture. Hear us, O God, when we call upon You, defend us when we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. We trust You to save us finally even from death through the resurrection that is in Christ, and so we trust You for every lesser evil we encounter in this life. We give You thanks for Your salvation of us, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.”